Canadians are at risk with an ineffective federal police force, report finds

Extremist and criminal threats are no longer problems that Canada’s national police can effectively counter according to a worrying new parliamentary report. But how at risk are Canadians? Here’s what the report revealed and why you should be concerned. 

Members of Canada's National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) undertook a study of the Royal Mounted Canadian Police (RCMP) and found that it needs a major overhaul to meet the country’s modern security challenges.

The crux of the issue stems from the dual nature of the police force and how the RCMP has evolved into a service that is contracted by a large portion of the country to deal with local and provincial crime while also handling all of Canada’s major crimes. 

The RCMP is tasked with handling crimes like espionage, money laundering, and foreign interference as well as other crimes that cross jurisdictions and borders according to the National Post. But this role conflicts with the RCMP’s contracted local policing role.

NSICOP Chair David McGuinty explained that contracted local policing took priority over the RCMP's federal policing role, which in turn was putting Canada in a vulnerable position in relation to the major crimes that could put the country at risk in the future. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By David McGuinty

"National security is at risk,” McGuinty said according to CBC News. “The security of Canadians is at risk,” he continued, adding that what the country risked was “missing something,” meaning a serious crime or serious external threat to the country. 

The 91-page NSICOP report noted that the RCMP was hindered by a number of factors and resource issues, specifically calling out problems with the RCMP’s focus on having officers on the ground in the over 150 municipalities that the police force serves. 

“It’s time for the federal government to stop long enough to examine the overall structure of the RCMP. It’s time for the minister to get more engaged in directing and helping to improve the situation on these fronts inside the RCMP,” McGuinty said. 

The report didn’t outright call for the RCMP to remove itself from contract policing but it did note that the government should seriously consider the idea according to the National Post, noting that the police force was not effective under its current structure. 

“On the basis of its review, the committee believes that federal policing is not and cannot function as effectively as it must to protect Canada and Canadians from the most significant national security and criminal threats,” the committee wrote in its report. 

“The government has a responsibility to ensure that the various components of its security and intelligence community function effectively to protect Canadians and Canadian Interests… The government must act to ensure it does,” the report noted. 

The report also blamed weak governance for the RCMP’s many issues according to CBC News and noted that the committee found the force suffered from outdated training and a lack of recruits, a problem made worse by the increasing loss of police officers. 

The RCMP has lost upwards of 600 officers over the last nine years and was operating with an officer vacancy rate of 13% among regular members during the 2022/ 2023 fiscal year. These are numbers that have not set the force up for success in the country.  

"What we've found in looking under the hood is a series of issues that have just simply convinced us that we've got to up our game very, very quickly on this. The minister has got to take responsibility," McGuinty told CBC News.  

"I would lay a lot of the responsibility now at the feet of the minister of public safety, who's got to step up and work,” McGuinty added, referring to the Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc who took over the role in July 2023. 

The report recommended more oversight according to Global News, and concluded that the federal government needed to recognize the RCMP did not have the resources it needed to successfully execute its federal policing mandate.